Often, openings are formed in support materials so that microelectronic structures may be formed in and their structure supported by the support material. For example, a capacitor container for a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cell may be etched into a dielectric, such as silicon dioxide, most commonly formed as a doped silicate glass. Use of silicon dioxide dielectric can yield several disadvantages from a patterning standpoint. Dry etch of silicon dioxide has a large physical component, that is, it is more like physical sputtering than like a chemical etch. Its sputtering nature creates difficulty in obtaining a straight profile since the etch exhibits a very small lateral component, leading to a tapered profile.
Accordingly, what the art needs are methods addressing the problems of using silicon dioxide as support material for microelectronic structures.